Our region will soon see the results of the most collaborative initiative of our time – “How Shall We Grow?” - Creating a Shared Vision for Central Florida will present its final report at the Regional Board of Advisors Leadership Forum next month.  In his monthly essay for FirstMonday, Jacob V. Stuart, President, Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce, shares his enthusiasm and his expectations for this important regional work product and he challenges community leaders to take the ball and run with it!

Dream ♦ Apparition ♦ Idea ♦ Hallucination ♦ Image ♦ Visualization ♦ Revelation ♦ Vision

Call it what you will, but in just a few weeks, Central Florida will be presented with an image of how our region can mold itself over the next fifty years.  As a result of a historic collaborative effort by tens of thousands of citizens, a Shared Vision for Central Florida will debut at the Regional Board of Advisors Leadership Forum on August 10.

The culmination of this 15-month initiative will combine growth projections, development options, environmental protection, citizen participation, visual representation, survey preferencing, and technical expertise to paint a “picture of possibility” for our collective future.  “How Shall We Grow?” has accumulated, distributed, deciphered and defined, what leaders and residents see, think, feel and hope.

Emotionally charged at times, one of the most important aspects of this effort is that it got peoples’ attention, enlisted their feedback, and generated impassioned conversation.  Never before, have so many individuals and organizations from the public, private and civic sectors engaged in such an extensive community outreach process to talk about the future of our region.  Other regions in the state and the nation are looking at what we have done and will be watching to see how we will begin implementing this vision.  This initiative has been written about in professional journals, recognized across our state and our nation, and will surely be replicated.

There is a lot more work to do.  Now it is up to elected officials (current and future), planners and developers, and business and community leaders to begin integrating what our region says it wants – not only within the realm of public-sector decision-making, but also in private sector strategic imperatives.  This could include public policy changes, land acquisition, legislation, development of dedicated funding sources and much, much more.  And, it will be up to each and every one of us to apply the necessary public pressure to prevent this effort from falling by the wayside.

It is, after all, our community, our region, and our future.

An initiative as comprehensive as “How Shall We Grow?”could not have been possible without the strong and dedicated support of our community partners and we would like to thank them here now.  The Florida Department of Community Affairs, Florida Department of Transportation, the Central Florida MPO Alliance, East Central Florida Regional Planning Council, Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce, and myregion.org combined their professional talents and resources to take this important message to the people of our region. 

To the elected officials at the state, county and municipal levels who provided leadership, to county and city managers who actively participated in the process, to all of those who provided technical expertise, and to the citizens of Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole and Volusia Counties who participated in workshops and focus groups, congratulations on a job well done!

Central Florida can and should be proud of what we have accomplished together.  Just think of what’s next!  As a native of the region, I can tell you that I can’t wait!